Giovanni Battista Maini

Giovanni Battista Maini (February 6, 1690 – July 29, 1752) was an Italian sculptor of the Late-Baroque period, active mainly in Rome.

He was born in Cassano Magnago in Lombardy, and died in Rome. He may have had contacts with Foggini in Florence. By 1708, he had moved to Rome where he joined the large studio of Camillo Rusconi, where he worked for over twenty years. Among his first commission was the execution in bassorilievo (relief) of the "Glory of San Francesco" for a Jesuit church of Madrid; however, the bassorilievo in stucco, likely originally a design by Rusconi, was never sculpted in marble. Like Rusconi, Maini always modelled his projects in stucco first.

Maini collaborated in the decoration of the spandrels of the cupola of the Santi Luca e Martina. He worked in Sant'Agnese in Agone, where he executed the papal funerary monument to Innocent X (1729), likely based on Rusconi’s designs. For St. Peter’s Basilica, Maini carved large marble statues of "St Francis of Paola" (1732; designed by Pietro Bianchi) and "St Philip Neri" (c. 1735). This was part of a series of sculptures on the founders of orders and included Michelangelo Slodtz's "St Bruno". He completed the Archangels "Michael" and "Gabriel" statues (c. 1737) for the basilica of Mafra, commissioned by king of Portugal.

Between 1732-1735, Maini was involved in the prominent commissions by Clement XII for his family chapel, the Corsini chapel in San Giovanni in Laterano. The benedictory bronze statue of Clemente XII, by Maini, is inspired by Bernini’s Urban VIII in St. Peter’s, and replaced an earlier statue by Carlo Monaldi. He also sculpted figures for his monument to cardinal Neri Corsini" (1733-34), who was the pope’s nephew. In 1741-43, he worked on the portico relief of "Madonna of St Luke" for Santa Maria Maggiore. Another contemporary relief of "St John Preaching" was placed in San Giovanni in Laterano. Starting in 1734 Maini was involved in the design work of Fontana di Trevi, but failed to obtain the choice commission from the main architect Nicola Salvi for the final sculpting of the statue of "Neptune and Oceanus" group, which instead was given to Pietro Bracci (1743-59). He also sent some reliefs to Siena, for the Chigi chapel in the Cathedral of Siena.

ources

* [http://www.artnet.com/library/05/0532/T053248.asp| Grove encyclopedia biography]